Warning: children are after gold.
Young athletes ranging from Carlos Alcaraz until Jessica Gadirov have had great seasons in 2022, showing why they should be considered real contenders for Paris 2024.
olympics.com have selected 10 rising stars to follow on their journey to the next Olympic Games.
Jessica Gadirova (GBR), artistic gymnast, 18 years old
The women’s team Artistic Gymnastics of Great Britain won her first Olympic medal in 93 years with the help of Gadirova in Tokyo 2020. However, in 2022 she showed what she can also achieve on her own.
With a gold on floor and an all-around bronze at the World Championships in Liverpool – as well as guiding her country to team silver – Gadirova excelled.
She was also elected Young female athlete of the Year by the Sunday Times for her performance in 2022.
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Carlos Alcaraz (ESP), tennis, 19 years old
There is an argument that the tennis player The Spaniard has already reached the pinnacle of the sport. After all, he is the youngest world number 1 in historyas well as champion of the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open.
However, five titles in one season suggest this may just be the start of Alcaraz’s era in men’s tennis.
Can he stay at the top long enough to make his Olympic debut at Paris 2024 as one of the favorites ahead of the veterans? Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic?
Time will tell us.
Summer McIntosh (CAN), swimming, 16 years old
THE youngest member Canada’s Tokyo 2020 team took 4th place in Japan, but better things are afoot in 2022.
She becomes the youngest world champion in the 400m individual medley since 1978, leaves Budapest with four medals (two gold, one silver and one bronze in the relay) and achieves the fourth best performance in history. 400m freestyle.
We added two Commonwealth Games gold medals (200m and 400m relay) to the tally to end the year, and apparently McIntosh can enter the history of Paris 2024 before turning 18.
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Erriyon Knighton (USA), athletics, 18 years old
If someone breaks the record Usain Boltthis person deserves attention.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic trials, then aged 17, Knighton ran 200m in 19.91 seconds, surpassing the Jamaican icon’s under-20 mark. It has since improved to 7:49 p.m. – although that time has not been ratified.
bolt only, Yohan Blake, Noah Lyles and Michael Johnson were faster than that.
Knighton won bronze at the World Championships in Eugene, becoming the youngest world medalist sprinter, but his goal is the 200m world record. Will Paris 2024 be where it gets it?
Friend (JPN), breakup, 24 years old
A booming sport in the Olympic programme, rupture features several new talents for its Paris 2024 debut. One of them is Saitama-born b-girl Ami, known for learning the toughest moves just days after practicing them.
Ami was the inaugural BC One champion in 2018 and became double world champion in 2019 and 2022, with a second place in 2021.
Keep an eye out for her at Paris 2024.
David Popovici (ROM), swimming, 18 years old
O swimmer The Romanian was just 0.02 seconds away from a medal in the 200m freestyle at Tokyo 2020, but nothing has stopped him in 2022.
At World Championship in Budapest, Popovici broke three world junior records and completed the 100m-200m freestyle double, becoming the first to do so in the same event since 1973.
Later, at the European Championships, he won César Cielo Filho’s 13-year-old record in the 100m with 46.86. In juveniles and adults, the swimmer has won more than 20 gold medals in 2022 alone.
Sofia Raffaeli (ITA), rhythmic gymnastics, 18 years old
There were many “firsts” for Italy in Rhythmic Gymnastics this year and Raphael was responsible for each of them.
With gold medals in three stages of the World Cup, World Games, European ChampionshipsChallenge World Cup and World Championships, it made the Italian anthem played for the first time in all these events.
In Sofia, Raffaeli defeated his opponents with four individual titlesincluding overall, and won his team’s golden ticket to Paris 2024.
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Zhang Boheng (CHN), artistic gymnastics, 22 years old
The current rival of the Japanese Olympic gold medalist Hashimoto DaikiZhang made his leap in 2021, with three national championship medals and a overall world title.
There have been five podiums at the Olympic trials, but he was a reserve at Tokyo 2020 and did not compete at the Games.
In 2022, he defended his all-around gold medal at the national championship and won the world championship silver in Liverpool, in addition to helping his team win the competition, securing a place at the next Olympic Games.
Chloe Covell (AUS), skateboard, 12 years old
The women’s street is an event with many young stars, and yet another has joined the club.
At 12, Covell had a memorable season: Australian National Championship, silver medals at the X games and the SLS stage in Las Vegas and bronze at the Dew Tour and X Games Chiba in Japan. She is also in the running for Paris 2024 after competing in the Olympic qualification in Rome, finishing in 7th place.
His next mission: to try to break the Japanese-Brazilian domination in the Skateboard female street.
Léon Marchand (FRA), swimming, 20 years old
If Popovici is the rising star of freestyle, Trader is ready to please the local crowd at Paris 2024 in the medley.
After 6th place at Tokyo 2020 in the 400m, the Frenchman has become world champion over 200m and 400m in Budapest, with the right to set a European record.
He also thrived in the NCAA, with gold medals in the 200-yard medley and breaststroke.
If you need another reason to get excited: Marchand is trained by Bob Bowman, former mentor to the all-time great. Michael Phelps.
Highlights of Brazil and Portugal
There are several Brazilian athletes chasing the first Olympic medal who have shown potential to get there at Paris 2024. In swimming, Guilherme Costa, 24, is a candidate for the podium in the 400m freestyle. the tennis player Beatriz Haddad Maia26, also climbed to the sport’s elite after a great season in 2022. Volleyball fans can also watch Julia Bergman21 years old, as a possible big name for the women’s national team for this Olympic cycle.
Portugal stake their chips Gustave Ribeiroof street skate, following its Street League title in 2022.
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